FWIW, I have not had much luck getting a Sony camera to transmit TTL flash control through an Sony X1 transmitter to a Sony X1R to a flash designed for Sony TTL. I have seen on other forums that my issue is not unique. The system is not perfect.

Got my Xpro-P today. Without the firmware upgrade on my Flashpoint Evolve 200 and my AD200, there was no joy in P-TTL land. Under exposure was extreme. With the upgrades, they work just fine. I havenít shot more than walls or tried at wide aperture where earlier firmware had problems on my Sony cameras, but so far this looks terrific. Being able to use my K1 alongside my A7III with the same light setup solves a big problem I had on locations where the portability of the Godox lights was essential.

Honestly, when you write a lot of the criticisms Iíve read you post, you sound like someone who hasnít tried a quality mirrorless. An EVF isnít perfect, but it is light years ahead of ground glass at showing you what you will get. Maybe it it isnít for you right now, but have you tried it to see? Iím a 45 year Pentax user and I canít see this Ď60s technology with multiple mirrors surviving more than a decade. There are so many advantages to having autofocus and viewing work on the actual image, folks that diss it remind me of TLR users in the 70s. Canon and Nikon are going there, and it is a shame Pentax gave it up after the K01.

Whether somwhat compressed or not, what you see in the EVF is still much closer to the result on the sensor than the ground glass which reflects zero issues with the dynamic range or exposure. Eye focus AF is also a thing of beauty that I have only experienced with mirrorless. Whether it is what you want right now or not, it is the future, with both Nikon and Canon on the bandwagon as of now. It is too bad the K01 went away, because Pentax was truly ahead of its time.

Iíll add another vote for the Lensmaster gimbal head. It is high quality and cheaper than many other options. I use it with my old K500/4.5 + 1.4x when I am close enough to schlepp it all and can park it in a blind. It is about the same length as the DA 560, which I would have happily snagged in a heartbeat for that price. To the OP, good job!

I used to hold strictly to the monopod or tripod for long lenses, but for birding I found I was missing too many shots even with just a monopod. Partly that is because I am tall and birds are often in the air or in trees, so the angle doesnít work without doing knee bends. I donít know how well the Pentax IBIS works at 560mm, but I get good results with the DA*300 +1.4x or a Sigma 150-600 handheld (not available for Pentax) if I just keep the shutter speed above 1/600 and the shutter firing quickly. One of the shots in the burst will always be sharp down to the feather barbs.

There is no Sony equivalent to the DA* 200 or 300. The Sony lenses performing functions similar to the three amigos (FA 31/43/77) are quite different. That is one reason why I have been posting on other threads for a restart of the K01 program.

I own 4 Sony E-mount bodies and a half dozen lenses. I have about 40 Pentax mount lenses and a dozen bodies. I canít think of any Sony lens that isnít more expensive than its Pentax counterpart.

However, the crop sensor bodies (my A6000 and 6500) are amazingly compact and high quality. The AF on all of my bodies except the A7R is superior in my experience to all of my Pentax bodies. The original A7R is an AF dog, but it is better with my old manual Pentax FF lenses than a Pentax DSLR. The low light performance and autofocus on The A7III are great.

The other issue is that third party manufacturers are supporting Sony and not Pentax. This includes a number of new lenses, but mostly flash. The Godox system will let Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and Fuji use the same off camera flash with TTL and HSS. Pentax is not included.

That is a quick take. I still use both Pentax and Sony, as well as a Nikon body. The Nikon I bought because the Sigma 150-600 does not come in a Pentax or Sony mount, and neither does any other zoom in that FL range.

It is all a trade off. There are things I like better about a pentaprism, and I still enjoy my Pentaxes. However, on balance, Iíll take the simplicity of seeing the actual output of the sensor, and I canít use the back screen well without reading glasses. I also like the focus peaking and magnification better than manually focusing on ground glass without a focus aid. (So sorry Katzeye didnít make it)

A DSLR basically has three focus systems in three locations and multiple mirrors, some translucent. This is a lot of unnecessary moving parts and chances for misalignment. I think ML is where the technology is going.

The RAVPOWER is at least faster than its competitors. It does not copy from the SD to its USB via your smartphone, like some others. When you start a copy using its ďexplorerĒ function, the transfer is internal and does not tie up your phone.

I am not mistaken. My beef was that I did not get anything for those pixels I would have given up with the A7 or A7II. The difference is that with the A73, you do get an increase in low light capability for sacrificing the pixels. I it almost like a 24mp A7S. The dynamic range is also impressive.

The A7 never interested me until the A73. The old sensor gave up pixels on the 36mp A7R/K1 and did not add sensitivity. Itís AF was not impressive, and it only had one SD slot. The A73 finally nails it on all these fronts.

And if the K01 got a decent eye level finder, it is the best of all worlds. The system doesnít need a new line of lenses. One of the things I like most about Pentax is the compactness. A K3 with a DA*300 + TC is no bigger or heavier than a quality M4/3 with the same reach. Pentax makes some great compact primes for APS-c, and getting those in an updated K01 with PDAF and an eye level finder would instantly be a jump ahead of the Sony system. Itís not likely to happen, but Iíd love to see it.

I also think Pentax is missing the boat by letting the K01 die. The Sony concept is the future, and being able to use my 40 or so K mount lenses without adapters would be fantastic. I have 4 Sony bodies, and have never had overheating issues. The ergonomics are something you get used to. Pentax has the best, but you get to the point where putting down a Pentax and picking up a Sony is no big deal. I personally prefer the Sony bodies over my Nikon.

My solution is the RAVpower filehub and some high capacity USB drives. The RAVpower has a battery, wireless connectivity, an SD port and a USB port. Your phone will connect to it as it would any wireless drive, and you can access your photos on your SD or copy them to a hard drive or USB thumb drive. I usually copy my SD cards at the end of each day. The RAVpower was less than $40 years ago when I bought it and has worked great.

I have both the K1 and the A7III. I like them both very much. If I were starting from scratch without 45 years of Pentax lenses, Iíd probably go with a mirrorless. The EVF now works fine for me and will only get better. An SLR is the technology of the Ď60s for viewing through the lens, and mirrorless opens up all kinds of possibilities for autofocus logic. The A7III autofocus is amazing,

OTOH, the higher resolution of the Pentax and the better ergonomics are a plus for it. There are knobs for more things you use. It is a mature technology as well.

I frequently use older long lenses such as the SMC 500/4.5 and the A 400/5.6 with and without the 1.4 L converter on Sony E Mount bodies. The A7R does a better job on the 500 than the K1. The ML cameras with focus magnification have revived a good bit of my old manual focus glass.

It depends on what you need. Most of the time, in body works fine for me, and it allows lenses to be smaller and lighter. It is one of the things I liked about Pentax. A DA*300 on a K3 is about the same size and weight as a high quality micro 4/3 lens of the same length and speed with in lens stabilization.

A big advantage to putting the stabilization in the lens is that you see the effect through the viewfinder. It is also said to be more effective at longer focal lengths.

The best of all worlds may be what Sony and Panasonic now do: allow you to use both, either separately or together.

The A7III has more external controls, but really all of them work very well if you just get used to it, and take the time to program the buttons. I am so used to the Pentax system, that the Nikon controls seem to go too far the other way at first.

---------- Post added 06-07-18 at 02:14 PM ----------

Just curious, but have you actually used the A7III? I'll have to go out and try to create the banding (outside of the LED issue with all electronic shutters), because I haven't seen it in the three months I have had mine.

YMMV, but I see them as serving two different purposes. The A6500 is smaller and great for travel, and getting 24mp on APS-C is a better option for wildlife. (The same reason my K1 has not supplanted my K3) The A7III is terrific in low light and has the other FF advantages, but with 24mp on a FF sensor, it is not ideal for reach.

The A7III also has a joystick above the usual selector buttons, which is far more useful than the touchscreen. The only banding issues I have had were using the silent (electronic) shutter in certain LED lighting at higher shutter speeds. With the mechanical shutter, there has been no banding at all.

I get what you are saying about, perhaps, the sensor, but the lenses for the K10d blow an iPhone out of the water. Still, big is not necessary to quality the way it was. Mirrorless cameraís can be smaller, and sensors can be smaller as well. The SLR is 50 year old technology for viewing through the lens, and smaller camera can do just about anything a larger one could 10 years ago.

To some extent, the big camera thing has always been an illusion. My camera travel combo for most of the Ď80s was an Olympus XA and a Pentax MX, both of which were very compact. The epitome of quality was a Leica which was also very small.

I have both the A6500 and the A7III as well as lots of Pentax gear. Both the A6500 and A7III have better autofocus than my K3 or K1, but the catch is the lenses. The Sony lenses are very expensive. When Sigma starts shipping its line in the E mount as promised, this may change.

I still use both systems (a lot), but I think the mirrorless will be the future regardless of the brand. Canon and Nikon need to be concerned. Mirrorless is just simpler, and using the camera sensor opens up so many additional possibilities for autofocus logic. Look at birds in flight through the A7III viewfinder, and you see autofocus points swarm around the BIF like bees on a flower and hang with it. It is a thing of beauty.